We have exciting news to share!  Our little boy, Judah Andrew, was born on Good Friday, April 10th at 4:34 in the morning!  He was an anxious little one--trying to come out before the doctor could arrive.  But, the Lord held everything together, and Judah was born safe and sound by c-section (because he was breach).  He was 6 pounds, 18.5 inches long.  He was a bit early in coming still: born at 36 weeks 2 days.  But, the Lord has graciously blessed him with wonderful health reports so far, and he seems to be getting the hang of feeding and sleeping and all those important details of life!

We named our son "Judah" because of its great meaning as a name.  "Judah" means, "Praise the Lord!"  That has been our motto throughout this pregnancy!  The Lord has sustained Judah's life and kept him safe inside of me for the last nine months, despite all the odds.  The verse we have picked for Judah is Psalm 71:6, "Upon You I have leaned from before my birth; You are He who took me from my mother's womb.  My praise is continually of You."  We pray the Lord will bring Judah to know Him and all His greatness as he grows into who God wants him to be.  We love him so much and we are so thankful that little Judah is here and healthy!

As we stare at our little Judah, we remember each prayer that has been offered up on his behalf, and on our behalf as a family.  We want to thank you again for all your prayers!  A close friend of ours told us recently that when Judah is grown, we will have to remind him that he is probably one of the most prayed for babies ever!  We believe this to be true, and we desire that as you have been challenged to pray for him, that you will now take time to praise the Lord with us for Judah's safe arrival! 

As I said, Judah is doing really well overall for a baby born prematurely.  However, he is still in the hospital being monitored for his weight and jaundice.  I was released from the hospital on Monday, but the doctors are keeping Judah just a bit longer to make sure he is doing well, and that we won't have to bring him back in for any reason.  The hospital here in Ames, IA has offered us the ability to stay as guests in the same room that we had as patients.  This room is provided to us at no additional cost.  The only thing that changed was that we now have to pay for our meals.  This is a small cost compared to what it would have cost us in gas to drive back and forth to Marshalltown every day that Judah stays in the hospital.  We are benefitting greatly as a family from staying here in the hospital together and continuing to nurture Judah's growth.  It is such a blessing to be able to stay here with him at virtually no charge!  We are also glad that we didn't have to leave the hospital without him.  That would have been very difficult for us to do after doing that with our first son, Collin, after he passed away.  We will love being able to leave the hospital together, as a complete family!  We don't expect him to be here in the hospital much longer, maybe just a couple more days, if that.

We will be posting pictures of Judah on our website soon.  Please feel free to take a look!  We love showing him off!  He is such a beautiful baby, if I do say so myself!  You can go to, www.andyandelizabethsmith.com and click on the "Family Photos" tab. 

Thank you again for your faithful prayers and concern for our family!  We are rejoicing in the Lord!